Sparks of Genius at BBC Connected Studio

Some of the After Digital team and myself were invited along to the BBC Connected Studio on Knowledge & Learning yesterday, for a fantastic day focused on creativity and digital innovation.

Connected Studio is an initiative established by BBC Future Media across the UK, which aims to develop innovative and intuitive new digital media formats, functions, products and features across the BBC's entire range of media and content. Digital agencies, technology companies and creatives were selected to attend the live streamed event across 3 locations - Glasgow, Salford and Cardiff. The Creative Studio days provided an open, collaborative and inspiring environment to encourage attendees to share their ideas, team up, brainstorm and develop creative concepts for new BBC Knowledge and Learning products.

BBC experts were on hand to offer up their advice and feedback on ideas, user experience and audiences. What's more teams were able to pitch their ideas to a sample audience panel in 15 minute slots, to decipher the clarity and feasibility of their concepts. The After Digital team was lucky enough to receive highly positive and useful feedback from the audience panel, who saw significant scope in our idea for real life application.

From there, teams went on to refine their ideas further, ensuring they could deliver their concept succinctly and efficiently to the judging panel. The day concluded with each team having to pitch their idea in just 2 minutes to the BBC judges and full BBC team, as well as all the other delegates across the 3 venues via live video streaming.

Despite the tight timescales and high-pressured environment, After Digital thoroughly enjoyed the day and meeting all those in attendance, and felt there were some fantastic ideas that came out of the Creative Studio as a result.

We look forward to the next stage of the programme and potentially continuing to work with the BBC for future digital developments and innovation.

David Johnstone, Business Development Director at After Digital, said;"With innovation at the heart of everything we do at After Digital we are always seeking opportunities like this to collaborate and grow the scope of our work. The BBC is already a leader in media and digital innovation and initiatives such as the Connected Studio further highlight the organisation's dedication to continue to strive for excellence and offer their audiences seamless, connected, multi-platform experiences."